Heating/cooling unit



Jam 4, 1966 D. E. REzNlcK ETAL 3,227,150

I HEATING/COOLING UNIT Filed Dec. 23, 1963 INVENTORS DAV/D E. @EzN/ck BY ifa/vof A.

A TTORNE Y United States Patent O This invention relates to a heating/cooling unit and has for an object to provide an air conditioning device of this character th-at, in addition to supplying cooled air,

supplies a blend of heated and non-heated air to the space or `area being served.

Another object of the invention is to provide an air conditioner, Ias above characterized, that is unitary and compact.

A further object of the invention is to pr-ovide an air `conditioner that is adapted for easy pre-set adjustment to provide the blended proportion of heated and unheated air, as desired, according to the environment in which the conditioner is being operated.

This invention also hasfor its objects to provide such means that lare positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also'comprises novel details of construe'- tion and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description, and which is based on the accompanying drawing. However, said drawing merely shows and the following description merely describes, one embodiment of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawing, likel reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

FIG. l is a vertical sectional View of an air conditioner embodying features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional View as taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. l.

FIG. 3 is la fragmentary sectional view as taken on the line 3 3 of FIG. l.

The present heating/cooling unit has basis on a generally conventional unit th-at is controlled by conventional thermostats located in the respective areas that are heated or cooled by the unit, so that said unit, accordingly, has au output of cool air for cooling part or all of said areas, or an output of warm air for heating part or all of said areas, as the case may be.

As shown in the drawing, such a conventional air conditioner is provided with an air inlet 5, the air from which is directed through filters 6 to provide a particleand pollen-free Iflow to the inlet 7 of a blower 8. The fan 9 of sai-d blower discharges said air under pressure from an upwardly dire-cted outlet 10 into and through a duct furnace (not shown) such as is used as the heating component of heating, heating/cooling, or make-up air systems. The drawing shows a plenum 11 where such a furnace is usually p-rovided.

A laterally disposed chamber 12 also receives the output of the blower outlet 1t), a refrigerating coil unit 13 be-ing disposed in said chamber, in the path of the flow through said chamber, to cool the same.

In the above-described conventional heating/cooling unit, the furnace discharges heated air to an outlet 14, the cooled air Kowing through the chamber 12 discharging through an outlet 15.

It is conventional to divide the outlets 14 yand 15 into several compartments, as by walls 16 (FIG. 3) and to provide said compartments, according to their size, with damper valves 17 that control flow through the outlets.

3,227,150 Patented Jan. 4, 1966 It is common practice to so arrange said valves that, when the valves of one outlet are in open position, the valves in the other outlet are in closed position. Hence, only one of the outlets is open at any one time, the thermostats yabove mentioned rotating the valve shafts 18 to obtain this mode of operation.

According to the present invention, the hereinbeforedescribed heating/ cooling unit is provided with a furnace 19 that is independently mounted upon the 4air inlet base portion 2i) alongside the plenum 11, air-circulating means 21 extending late-rally from said plenum through the furnace, and means 22 for blending air from the blower outlet directed toward the outlet 14 with air being circulated through the means 21, and first being heated by the furnace, and then directed back to the plenum.

The furnace 19 may be heated in any suitable manner t'o convey its heat to the means 21 and vent through a flue 23.

The air-circulating means 21 is shown as a generally rectangular duct 24 that is open at one end 25 to the plenum 11 and is provided at its opposite end with an air-turning box 26. A horizontal bale wall 27 extends longitudinally of the interior of the duct 24 to divide the same and the turning box 26 into a forwardly extending passage 28 from 4the lower portion of the plenum, a turning passage 291at the end of the passage 2S, and a return passage 30 from the passage 29 to the upper part of the plenum. It will be clear that the air circulating in the duct 24 is twice subjected to the heat applied to said duct by the furnace, the same const-ituting a compact hea-t exchange means because of said return flow through the duct.

The means 22 is shown as an upturned lip 31 on the end of the bafe wall 27 that extends into the plenum 11, and an opposed upturned lip 32, the two lips defining `an orifice 33 between them. In this case, the orice extends transversely and constitutes a restriction or nozzle. The size of the or-ice may be adjusted, preferably at installation of the unit, to proportion the flow from the blower 8 through the nozzle and to and through the means 21.

W'hen the outlet 14 is closed, the only flow that is had is shown by the dotted-line arrows 34, the same discharging through the outlet 15 and into such ducts as may be provided to conduct the cooled flow to the area being served thereby. This is a conventional flow of cool air.

When the outlet 15 is closed, the air discharge of the blower is divided. As induced by the size of the orifice, a portion of said air passes directly through said orifice, according to the arrow 35. The remaining portion of said a-ir can flow only through the exchange-r means 21 according to arrows 36 and re-enter the plenum above the orifice 32 to commingle or blend with the air passing through the orifice. The blended llow, proportioned according to the adjusted size -of the orice, exits through outlet 14 and through such ducts as may be provided to conduct this blended flow of warm air to the area being served thereby.

The slotted means 37 suggest a manner of adjusting the lip 32, and a drain pan 38 may be provided to receive and dispose of condensation on the refrigerating unit- 13.

The plenum 11, duct means 21, and orice means 22 are all the same width and in vertical yalignment, as in FIG. 2, so that the entire width of the air flow according to arrow 36 coincides with the entire width of the air flow according to arrow 35, and with the combined or blended ow in the upper por-tion of the plenum.

While the foregoing has illustrated and described what is now contemplated to be the best mode of carrying out the invention, the construction is, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it is not desired t0 restrict the invention to the particular form of construction illustrated and described, but to cover all modications that mayfall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thusdescribed the invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. Means to heat a ow of air comprising:

' (a) a plenum to receive said low of air from beneath its lower portion,

(b) duct means coextensive in width to the plenum and disposed at an angle to said air ow to receive air from said lower part of the plenum and conduct the same iirst `at an angle away from said plenum and then in the opposite direction back t0 the plenum in the upper portion thereof,

(c) a furnace, adjacent the plenum, through which the duct means extends to heat the air flowing therethrough, whereby the air tlowing in the duct means is heated to a temperature higher than that of the air in t-he lower portion of the plenum,

(d) orifice means coextensive in width to the duct means and the plenum and disposed in said plenum between the lower and upper potions thereof,

(e) said orice means providing a direct passage for air owing from the lower to the upper portions of the plenum, directing said air in a path into the upper portion of the plenum at an angle to and positioned to blend with the heated air that is discharged from the duct means, and

(f) an outlet at the end of the upper portion of said plenum for the blended flow.

2. Means according to claim 1 Iin which the duct means comprises parallel passages open to the lower and upper portions of the plenum, and an air-reversing bend connecting the ends of said passages remote from open ends thereof.

3. Means according to claim 1 in which the orice means comprises two spaced lips extending transversely to the duct means and which are turned in a direction toward the upper plenum to deline a How-restricting nozzle.

4. Means `according to claim 3 provided with means to mount one of said lips f-or adjustment relative to the other to vary the restriction of the nozzle to, thereby, proportion the heated and direct flows of air to the upper portion or the plenum.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 130,847 8/1872 Dodge 126-109 393,540 1l/1888 Coleman 126-109 1,298,883 4/1919 Bynoe. 1,788,823 1/1931 Callahan 16S-103 2,015,960 10/ 1935 Norris. 2,345,559 4/1944 Fraser. 2,739,794 3/ 1956 Graham 165-22 X 3,068,854 12/1962 Freeman 126-110 JAMES W. WESTHAVER, Primary Examiner. 

1. MEANS TO HEAT A FLOW OF AIR COMPRISING: (A) A PLENUM TO RECEIVE SAID FLOW OF AIR FROM BENEATH ITS LOWER PORTION, (B) DUCT MEANS COEXTENSIVE IN WIDTH TO THE PLENUM AND DISPOSED AT AN ANGLE TO SAID AIR FLOW TO RECEIVE AIR FROM SAID LOWER PART OF THE PLENUM AND CONDUCT THE SAME FIRST AT AN ANGLE AWAY FROM SAID PLENUM AND THEN IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION BACK TO THE PLENUM IN THE UPPER PORTION THEREOF, (C) A FURNACE, ADJACENT THE PLENUM, THROUGH WHICH THE DUCT MEANS EXTENDS TO HEAT THE AIR FLOWING THERETHROUGH, WHEREBY THE AIR FLOWING IN THE DUCT MEANS IS HEATED TO A TEMPERATURE HIGHER THAN THAT OF THE AIR IN THE LOWER POSITION OF THE PLENUM, (D) ORIFICE MEANS COEXTENSIVE IN WIDTH TO THE DUCT MEANS AND THE PLENUM AND DISPOSED IN SAID PLENUM BETWEEN THE LOWER AND UPPER PORTIONS THEREOF, (E) SAID ORIFICE MEANS PROVIDING A DIRECT PASSAGE FOR AIR FLOWING FROM THE LOWER TO THE UPPER PORTIONS OF THE PLENUM, DIRECTING SAID AIR IN A PATH INTO THE UPPER PORTION OF THE PLENUM AT AN ANGLE TO AND POSITIONED TO BLEND WITH THE HEATED AIR THAT IS DISCHARGED FROM THE DUCT MEANS, AND (F) AN OUTLET AT THE END OF THE UPPER PORTION OF SAID PLENUM FOR THE BLENDED FLOW. 